Louis and I just spent the last 24 hours in the presence of Bob Lupton and WOW what a treat it was! This is the first of several posts I will have from our time with Bob. Last night, Bob spent nearly 2 hours sharing his insights and answering questions on serving the city. Being quite the storyteller, Bob shared his personal experiences and stories just like I was reading his book, Theirs is the Kingdom. Then, he tied them to practical advice and learnings – similar to reading Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life. All while weaving in examples of how they got it right and then there were times they made grave mistakes along the way. One thing he referred to was The Oath of Compassionate Service. Because some of you asked for it, Bob graciously shared a powerpoint with me that included all of them on one slide, which he gave me permission to provide (see below). But, please note that you can also find it and much more in his latest book, Toxic Charity on pages 8-9.

This is super advice for all of us when helping in any situation. His book cover describes Toxic Charity as “In this groundbreaking guide, he reveals the disturbing truth about charity: all too much of it has become toxic, devastating to the very people it’s meant to help.” To me, this book puts the flesh on the book When Helping Hurts, another great book on how the way we help can do more harm than good.

More to come over the next few days. Posts will include at least these 3 working titles… “The Spiritual Gift of Deal Making”, “The 3 Commands” and “A Message to the Emerging Leader”. If you blogged on the event, feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section for all to read.

Last night, there were over 180 of us at Northminster, and many of us want to keep this discussion alive. Let me know…

What does that looks like to you?

What do you want to hear about next?

How can we continue the dialogue?

How has this impacted your thinking? What will you do different?

What are you thinking?

How can we partner together to serve our neighbors in Richmond?

Let me hear from you via comment below, email, FB, twitter, carrier pigeon, or smoke signal! Thanks for being a part of this movement! And…be sure to subscribe to this site to stay in touch!